“Paintball” is now a recognized and popular sporting activity, played by thousands of men and women throughout this country, as well as in other countries. Paintball involves the use of impact-rupturable capsules that are filled with colorant compositions and are propelled toward the intended target using a paint ball marker. Upon impact, the impact-rupturable capsule breaks open to release the colorant composition onto the target. Release of the colorant composition marks the target with a color that can be chosen to identify a specific individual or team. Various games can be played using paintballs and paintball markers, from simple target practice to individual or team activities where the object is to mark an opponent by striking the opponent with a paintball.
Some currently available colorant compositions used in paintballs are made up of a colorant in a carrier comprising polyethylene glycol (PEG). Among the disadvantages associated with PEG-based colorant compositions include the high cost of PEG, staining of target fabrics, freezing and solidification of the colorant composition during exposure to colder temperatures, separation and precipitation of ingredients during storage, and a thin consistency.
In some instances, formulators have replaced PEG with soybean oil. Compared to PEG, however, soybean oil has a substantially lower specific gravity. For example, the specific gravity of PEG is about 1.1, whereas the specific gravity of soybean oil is about 0.92. Due to its lower specific gravity, the direct substitution of PEG with soybean oil significantly lowers the density of the colorant composition, which may adversely affect the flight characteristics of the paint ball. In order to compensate for the lower density of soybean oil, formulators have added density agents (e.g., salts and other heavier materials) to the colorant formulations to increase their density. Although these materials are effective to increase the density of the resulting compositions, they often separate or settle-out of the carrier and deposit on manufacturing equipment used to prepare the colorant compositions or fill the paint balls. This increases the wear on moving parts (e.g., pumps) and makes change-out or cleaning of other components more frequent.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for improved technology relating to impact-rupturable capsules containing colorant compositions. In particular, there is a need to provide new colorant compositions that do not require the use of PEG and that do not include density agents that may settle-out and abrade manufacturing equipment.